


Girls' Day Out

by akisazame



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen, also maybe girlfriends????, cute girl friends, p4week2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 06:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1735112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ai and Chie spend a summer day in Okina City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girls' Day Out

**Author's Note:**

> For [#P4week2014](http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/p4week2014) Day 3: Favorite NPC SLink.

Ai Ebihara emerged from one of the changing rooms in Croco Fur wearing a elegantly cut white bikini and matching straw hat. She twirled around in front of the mirror, then turned to her left and posed. "So, how do I look?" she asked before realizing that her shopping companion was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed dramatically when she noticed that the second changing room door was still closed. "C'mon, you can't hide in there forever," she said in a teasing tone, knocking on the door a couple times for good measure.

"I definitely can hide in here forever, thank you very much!"

Ai folded her arms and frowned at the closed door. "Chie."

Chie Satonaka stomped her foot on the carpeted floor so hard that it managed to echo a little. Ai had to admit she was impressed. She heard the sound of Chie fumbling with the door's lock before it finally opened a tiny crack. "I look stupid," Chie said matter-of-factly.

"Just come out and let me give you my expert opinion," Ai said, giving the door a gentle push.

After a moment, Chie gave a dramatic sigh of her own and pulled the door open the rest of the way. The swimsuit Ai had picked out for her was a pale green one-piece with a sash across the middle; Chie hadn't done a great job of tying the sash, but it was otherwise very cute.

"You look amazing," Ai exclaimed, much to Chie's obvious chagrin. "I knew a lighter green would suit you." She reached out and gently untied the sash around Chie's waist, retying it into a more well-rounded bow. "There, perfect!" Ai took Chie by the shoulders and spun her around to face the mirror in the dressing room. "See?"

Chie was reluctant to look straight at the mirror until Ai rested her chin on Chie's shoulder to keep Chie from turning her head. "I guess I look okay," Chie finally admitted under her breath. She glanced at Ai out of the corner of her eye and abruptly started laughing. "We look like some kind of freaky two-headed beach monster!"

Ai snickered, then reached up and adjusted her hat so it was resting perfectly on top of both their heads. "Tonight on Horrors of Okina City! Are they siamese twins, or a creature from the depths of the ocean? And why do they have to share one hat?"

Chie laughed harder at that, doubling over into a full Yukiko-style giggle fit. "Man, it's too bad Yukiko couldn't come," Chie said, as if she'd known exactly what Ai was thinking. "Then we could be a three-headed monster!"

The hat had tumbled to the floor when Chie had pulled away, so Ai bent down and picked it up. "Plus she would have looked much cuter in this swimsuit than me," she added, turning slightly so she could see a side view. "She would've filled it out a little better."

"Oh, please," Chie scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Ai. That looks great on you, too."

"Thanks," Ai said, putting the hat back on and turning 90 degrees to check the other side in the mirror. "Still, I don't think I'm going to buy it. Definitely getting the hat, though." She patted Chie gently on the shoulder. "And you should get that suit for sure."

Chie gave a grumbling sigh, though Ai noticed that her friend was blushing a little as well. "Yeah, okay, if you say so." Chie frowned and gave Ai a soft shove. "Get outta here so I can change back into something that isn't embarrassing!"

"Okay, okay," Ai laughed, backing out of Chie's changing room and pulling the door shut behind her. She wasn't quite ready to change out of the rejected bikini just yet, so instead she leaned her back against the closed door. She couldn't believe that less than a year ago she'd thought of Chie as some kind of rival in love. The idea that she had been missing out on having such a good friend just because of a boy was so silly to her now. Boys were dumb, anyway. "Hey, when did Yukiko say she was getting off work?"

Ai could hear Chie rustling around in her clothes, then a click as she flipped her phone open. "In like, a half an hour I guess?"

"Text her and see if she can meet us here! We can get a coffee, maybe see a movie. It'd be a crime if she didn't get to do something fun on a Sunday in the sum--" Ai stumbled backwards suddenly as Chie opened the changing room door. She tried to catch herself against one of the walls, but couldn't find purchase and tumbled back-first into Chie.

Chie, for her part, burst out laughing again. "What the heck were you even doing out there?" she managed through fits of giggles, wrapping her arms around Ai's waist. The feeling of Chie's bare arms on Ai's exposed skin made Ai feel strangely warm, and it was her turn to blush a little.

"S- sorry, I got distracted," Ai said, and it wasn't _really_ a lie. She untangled herself from Chie's arms and got to her feet, brushing her hands gingerly over her swimsuit just in case. "But yeah, text Yukiko and see what she says!"

Chie took her phone out of her pocket and started typing furiously. "Okay, done. I dunno what she'll say though. She said it's been busy over there." She slipped the phone into her pocket and looked up at Ai, who was still standing in front of the open changing room door. She rolled her eyes sarcastically and gave Ai a playful shove. "Go get changed, you dork."

"What, can't I just wear this into Chagall?" Ai teased, earning herself another shove. "Fine, fine," she said, walking backwards into the other changing room, holding her hands up defensively.

There was still no word from Yukiko even after Ai had changed back into her normal clothes and they'd bought both Chie's new swimsuit and Ai's new hat. "Well, what d'you wanna do?" Chie said, pocketing her phone with a frown.

"We could still go to Chagall," Ai suggested, nodding in the direction of the coffee shop. "It shouldn't be crowded this time of day."

True to Ai's word, Chagall was mostly empty. Only two tables were occupied, one with a boy and girl who were leaning in close to one another, and another with a 20-something businessman with a laptop. Ai chose a table that was equally far away from both of them, with the added bonus of being close to a window. She ordered her usual vanilla latte, while Chie opted for a cafe au lait at Ai's suggestion.

"So," Chie said with a conspiratorial smirk, "who are you gonna ask to go to the Summer Festival?"

Ai groaned. She knew this was going to come up sooner or later, despite all her attempts to put it off for as long as possible. "I haven't exactly thought about it."

"No way!" Chie exclaimed. "You gotta have like all the boys at school lined up to ask you!"

"Sure, they're lined up," Ai said, dragging her finger in a line across the tablecloth to emphasize her point. She then picked her finger up and drew another line perpendicular to the first one, forming an X. "That doesn't mean I want to go out with any of them. I mean, let's be honest here, boys are kind of the worst."

"Yukiko has the same problem," Chie snorted over her coffee cup. As if on cue, Chie's phone buzzed on the table. "Speaking of whom," she said, flipping the phone open to read her best friend's long overdue response. "She can't make it. Says there was a 'critical hot springs incident.' Whatever that means."

Ai giggled. "Sounds serious!"

"Everything's a crisis at the Amagi Inn," Chie said, rolling her eyes as she flipped her phone closed. "Guess it'll just be you and me."

"Speaking of which," Ai exclaimed, grasping the opportunity to turn the conversation away from her own festival plans, "you should ask Yukiko to go to the summer festival with you!"

Chie's coffee cup crashed onto the table, spilling its contents all over the pristine white tablecloth. "Excuse me?!" she spluttered.

Ai jumped up, picking up her bags to save them from the rapidly expanding puddle of spilled coffee. The other three customers were staring at them, and the young girl at the counter had an exasperated look on her face. Ai quickly grabbed two handfuls of napkins, then handed one handful to a still startled Chie. "C'mon, let's mop this up and get outta here. That girl over there looks like she's gonna kill us."

Five minutes and a pile of soaked napkins later, Ai was sitting on the edge of the brick planter in front of 30 Frame, a clearly-still-angry Chie leaning against the streetlamp next to her. "I didn't mean to make you upset," Ai said lamely, wringing her hands in her skirt. "It's just, I really do think that Yukiko would have the most fun if she went to the summer festival with you. I mean, you're best friends."

Chie turned her head to look at Ai, a curious look in her eyes. "Well, if that's the case, why don't the three of us go together?"

Ai blinked, then held up her hands and shook her head. "No way, I'd just be intruding!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Chie protested, turning towards Ai and putting her hands on her hips. "Would you have been intruding if Yukiko had been able to come meet us earlier? Sure, me and Yukiko have been friends since we were kids, but that doesn't make you any less of our friend!" She gave Ai's foot a playful kick. "Besides, if it was just me and Yukiko, it'd look like some kind of date!"

"So now two girls going out together is a date?" Ai said, giving Chie a soft kick of her own.

"Th- that's not...!" Chie exclaimed, a furious blush spreading across her cheeks. "Y- you know what I meant!"

"The point is," Ai said, interjecting on behalf of Chie's dignity, "that boys are dumb and we should all go to the summer festival without them. Girls' day out, no boys allowed." She abruptly reached into her shopping bag, pulled out the hat she had bought earlier, and placed it on Chie's head. "And you should wear this hat."

"What, we're not gonna go as the two-headed hat-wearing monster?" Chie giggled, taking the hat and putting it on Ai instead.

"Three-headed monster," Ai corrected her, taking the hat by the brim and holding it out in the middle distance between herself and Chie. "Unless you're suggesting you and I should go on a date to the summer festival."

"I'm not suggesting anyone go on a date!" Chie said indignantly, swatting the hat out of Ai's hand. Ai frowned as she watched it fall to the ground. "Okay, fine! Girls' day out! No boys allowed! I'll text Yukiko right now and ask her!"

"And then," Ai said, a mischievous grin on her face, "we can go yukata shopping!"

Chie's groan was nearly drowned out by Ai's laughter.


End file.
